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With a whopping 55% of Practice Managers intending to leave their posts in the next 12 months, this is a clear sign that there is growing discontent and therefore, a potentially huge problem for general practice that needs to be tackled sooner, rather than later. In the latest of our series of Practice Manager panels, Nicola Davies and Robyn Clark return and are this week joined by Jo Wadey, fellow Practice Manager and Chair of the West Sussex Practice Managers Association and by Carole Cusack, Director of Primary Care at Wessex LMCS to discuss the issue of continuing disregard and lack of recognition nationally for Practice Management as a profession. Where and how do Practice Managers get their concerns heard? How effective are LMCs in addressing their needs? Should there be national accreditation of Practice Managers? And the million-dollar question; is there a role for collectivism and the establishment of a union?

Introductions (0:28)

What is the reason for low morale amongst Practice Managers right now? (1:05)

Robyn’s views (2:55)

Jo shares her experiences (3:45)

Carole’s sense from an LMC perspective (4:47)

The exclusion of Practice Managers from the New to Partnership Payment Scheme (5:57)

Clinical versus non-clinical (6:29)

The Practice Management Network (7:18)

Percentages of Practice Managers leaving post in the next 12 months and the implications for general practice (7:57)

Why there is a need for a nationally recognised professional body for Practice Managers (9:06)

Membership and / or accreditation (10:48)

The complexities and variation in becoming a Practice Manager (13:41)

Which existing organisations could be a model for a national body of Practice Management? (16:11)

How it feels to be disregarded by existing, recognised bodies (18:14)

Where do we go from here? (19:48)

Ben’s closing remarks / summary (20:56)